ISSUED: 9 February 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Department of Music Salon Series sponsored by Jefferson Security Bank continues on Thursday, March 1, at 8 p.m. in the Frank Center’s W.H. Shipley Recital Hall with the Argot String Quartet. Salon Series concerts are free and open to the public. General seating is limited to 120.
The program will include Beethoven’s “Quartet Op. 18 n. 4 in C minor,” Dvorak’s “American Quartet,” Foote’s “Nocturne and Scherzo for Flute and String Quartet,” and Piazzolla’s “Four for Tango.” Based in Frederick, Maryland, the classical ensemble features founding members Marjory Serrano, Jason Diggs, and Camilo Pérez-Mejía, and Jie Hyue Kim.
Pérez-Mejía, cellist and Shepherd adjunct music professor, received soloist awards from the Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Javeriana, and Shenandoah Conservatory. He has performed as a member of ensembles in Colombia, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil, as well as Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Pérez-Mejía performs regularly with Entropy in Two and the Temple Trio, and is the principal cellist for the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington, Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, and the National String Symphonia. He is also the conductor for the Charles Washington Symphony Orchestra and co-conductor of the Shepherd Community Orchestra.
Violinist Serrano performs with the Ars Nova Chamber Players, serves as concertmaster for both the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington and the National String Symphonia, and is an adjunct violin professor at Frederick Community College.
Diggs performs with several orchestras, including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, Maryland Symphony, and Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra. He is the principal violist of the National String Symphonia. Diggs was the violist in the “Foreign Landscapes” CD by Hauschka, principal violist for the “R. Kreutzer Violin Concertos 17-19” CD released by Naxos featuring violinist Axel Strauss, and violist for the 2008 Grammy-nominated album “Indigo Road” by lutenist Ronn McFarlane.
Violinist Kim has performed at New York’s Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as the assistant concertmaster for the National String Symphonia and principal second violin of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Kim has been invited to play with the NOVA Philharmonic, Queensboro Symphony Orchestra in New York, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in Virginia. She has also participated in the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival, and the Castleton Music Festival Orchestra. Kim is also a founding member of the prize-winning Eclat Piano Trio. Kim actively arranges orchestrate music for the Epiphany Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., Open Door Ensemble in Virginia, and has provided her services to the Washington Korean Symphony Orchestra. Some of her notable contribution were for the Korean War 60th Anniversary Memorial Concert, NAPAW Memorial Concert, the 2011 Peace Concert at the Kennedy Center, and for various events at the Korean Embassy.
The final Salon Series concert will take place on Thursday, March 22, when the Atlantic Reed Consort will perform contemporary literature for the reed quintet, exploring 20th-and 21st-century composers like Philip Glass, Ned McGowan, Jessie Montgomery, John Elmquist, and a new work by former Shepherd faculty member Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis. Atlantic Reed Consort is a quintet made up of oboe, clarinet, bassoon, bass clarinet, and saxophone.
For more information about the concert series or other music department events, call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/music.
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